Devils and Promises
by Cutthroat Loki
Summary: "When I make a promise, Miss Daae, I keep it." Modern day. Strange blend of Leroux and ALW.


**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Phantom of the Opera**_**. Never have and never will.**

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><p><span>Chapter 1: Deal with the Devil<span>

Christine was not fond of mirrors. They either revealed too much or too little. When she had put on the blue dress it had felt right, but now she wasn't so sure. A child; she had the appearance of a child. A woman of twenty-two should hold an air of grace and maturity. Yet, there she stood in her floor-length dress with the sleeves that came to her elbows. Her dreamy, arctic blue eyes were clouded with curiosity and her pretty, little head was still filled with stories her father had told her. She was naïve. She was a little girl who never grew up.

Nervously, Christine fidgeted with her light-golden hair. The choral auditions were being held that day and she didn't know what to do with it. Hesitantly, she grabbed her curling iron. Soft swirls of gold soon cascaded down her shoulders. Cosmetics didn't grace her features; she never found the appeal of the stuff. Her father had said that a woman shouldn't hide the face the good Lord gave her.

"Christine!" a ragged voice rang through the house."You'll be late!"

"Yes, Mama." Christine scrutinized her figure once more.

Mama Valerius' eyes shone when the girl descended the steps. Christine felt dizzy and uncomfortable. She shook her head at the oatmeal presented to her and stared at her lap. Her chest burned and she felt breathless.

"Don't look so down, girl." Mama's eyes glittered with amusement. "You'll do fine, just fine."

"I'm not so sure, Mama. I've only just got out of school."

Christine started to fidget with her hair again and stopped only when Mama gave a disapproving glare. The clock was ticking so slowly, yet it was going too fast. Mama's compliments and cooing fell on deaf ears. Christine was starting to wonder if she was ready for this. She had memorized her song and she had the credentials. It was only confidence she lacked.

"Oh Christine stop that and calm down, dear." Mama smacked the poor girl's hand with her spoon.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Mama." Christine stopped twisting her dress.

"You'll do fine, it's only the chorus." Mama looked apologetic at her poor choice of words. "Of course, it's chorus at the Met. Your voice is so lovely, I'm sure you'll sing lead one day."

"I doubt that, Mama, I'm not _that_ good."

"Nonsense," her eyes clouded. "I can feel it. You're Angel will come soon, dear. Very soon."

Christine stared at her caretaker. Her words were almost prophetic and gave Christine a small bit of hope that her childhood dream would come true. Her musings would have to wait, however, as the clock chimed nine times. She had an audition in an hour and the traffic was unforgiving this time of day. Christine quickly gave Mama a hug and left the small townhouse to the New York streets.

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><p>"Good morning, Miss Daae." A woman with a hard face and a tight bun looked up at her. "My name is Anne Giry, I'm the director. This is the conductor, Gabriel Reyer."<p>

The woman waved to a frail man sitting to her right. His salt-and-pepper head nodded to her in greeting. She could only nod back. She was using everything she had to keep from fidgeting. Christine imagined her father watching her and she felt better however slight it was.

"You have exceptional credentials, Miss Daae." The woman rifled through her application. "Recently graduated from the Eastman School of Music and studied abroad at the School of Music and Musicology of Goeteborg University. We have a pianist for you and you may begin your first piece when you're ready."

Christine took a deep breath and nodded to the gloomy man at the piano. His thin lips pulled into an encouraging smile and he began to play the opening notes to Puccini's _Si Mi Chiamano Mimi._ Her voice staggered for the tiniest moment, but then blossomed. The girl was pitch perfect, yet something was lacking. The selection ended and Christine felt the horrible uncertainty. She knew she performed well, but only enough. Christine hesitated as the woman scribbled something down.

"That was very nice, Ms. Daae. We would like you to sight read this piece from our upcoming production of _Faust_. You will be given a few moments to look it over and then when the pianist starts playing, you start singing."

"Yes, ma'am." The gloomy man handed her a folder.

Christine recognized it as part of the waltz from the second act. She read through the piece while taking note of the key signature and tempo. Before she knew it, the pianist gave a soft cough and began playing. Christine found it easier to sing this time. She spent all of her extra energy reading the part. By the end, Christine was relieved to see a small smile on Mr. Reyer's lips.

"Thank you, Miss Daae." Ms. Giry looked up to the girl. "Please make your way to the lobby. Follow the signs until you reach the conference room where you will take a language competency test. After you are finished, you will be free to leave and we will contact you within the month."

"Thank you." Christine smiled and made her way off the stage.

A peculiar feeling creeped within Christine as she exited the hall. Someone, or _something_, was watching her. A quick glance around the hall yielded no results, but a shadow seemed to stay in her peripheral vision. She left the hall quickly, not wanting to find out what it was. Angel or demon, the results would be frightening.

Christine found the conference room with little difficulty. Five others sat around the table. She had heard nearly all of them before her own audition. A husky man with a bad comb over motioned her over.

"This will test you on Italian, German, and French." He wearily looked at Christine and handed her a test with a limp wrist. "Don't worry about getting a perfect score; you just need to know enough. You have an hour."

Without any other instruction, Christine found a seat next to a tiny girl with inky, black hair pulled into an elegant bun. There was something familiar about the girl's expression as she concentrated on the test. Christine looked down at the test and took a deep breath. When she calmed herself, she began the test.

Christine knew that fluency wasn't required to perform opera, so it was a relief to see the test wasn't very difficult. It was long, however, but Christine didn't mind at all. The hard part was over. The trembling from before had long passed and she sat comfortably. She only had the anticipation of the call later. One step closer- she was one step closer to her dream of being on the stage.

The girl next to Christine let out a happy sigh and stood up. Out of her peripheral , Christine could see the girl was very graceful. She moved like a swan. She winked at a girl with blue eyes and a button nose after handing her test to the bored man and left the room. Christine looked back to her test and found that she had barely gotten past the first page.

Christine continued to work on the test as people filed in and out. When she reached the last page, the girl with the button nose was handing her paper in. She moved like the girl with the black hair. Christine turned her attention, yet again, to her test. It was a bad habit of hers, losing focus. If she wasn't people watching, she was lost in her head; thinking of everything and nothing.

_Now is not the time_ she scolded herself. She needed to get through this, Mama was waiting for her.

Amazing herself, Christine managed to get through the rest of the test with minimal difficulty. She handed the paper to the husky man. He gave her a curt nod and Christine exited the room. She walked quickly in the direction to the lobby. Her flats were starting to hurt her feet and she desperately wanted to change out of this dress.

She suddenly felt something gripping her left arm. A cold hand covered her mouth before she could scream or protest. Christine's mind raced with a million questions as she was dragged into a very dark room she had just passed. Just before the door was shut, Christine could see it was a room similar to the conference room she had just left. After the soft click, she was thrown into darkness as there were no windows. She made to turn on the lights, but the figure pulled her away.

The grip on her arm softened and the hand slid slowly from her lips. Her eyes adjusted to the light as well as they could and she could only make out the outline of someone very tall. The stranger led her to one of the chairs and gently pushed her down into it. Christine had so many questions and the stranger must have sensed it because she heard a shush and a cold finger pressed briefly to her lips.

"Hello, Miss Daae." the voice was melodious and masculine. "I heard you sing today."

"Who are you?" Christine strained her eyes, desperate to know the hidden man.

"Your tutor," there was a slight pause, "if you will let me."

"Tutor? I don't know who you are!" Christine felt annoyed. "Why do I need to be tutored anyway?"

"You're voice is magnificent, Miss Daae. I have never heard such a voice in all my years." She could hear him shift in his seat. "But you're lacking passion. Why do you sing?"

"I-I…" Her mind was blank. Why did she sing?

"Yes? Go on." Was that amusement in his voice?

"For my father, I suppose." It was the only answer she could think of. It wasn't far from the truth anyway.

"Admirable." Came the dry reply. "But that's not why you should sing. You should sing for yourself, Miss Daae. Let your soul soar. I could help you, Miss Daae."

When Christine didn't answer, he continued. "It won't be easy, but nothing ever is. If you take my offer, I promise that you will become the greatest diva this city-no, the _world_- has ever known."

"Diva? But I just want to do chorus…" she trailed off as the man chuckled.

"Do not kid yourself, Miss Daae. We both know you're voice is too good for the chorus." Actually Christine wasn't so sure, but didn't say anything.

It all seemed too good to be true and it probably was. Stories of children taking gifts from strangers filled her head. Nothing good ever came out of those stories and Christine was starting to see a parallel. This strange man was offering to make her into a diva. A diva! Only ten minutes ago she wasn't sure about getting into the chorus.

"I'm not sure if I can do this." She saw his outline stand and walk towards her.

"When I make a promise, Miss Daae, I keep it." He was very close to her now. "If you accept my offer, you're voice will reach heights you never thought possible. All you need is my help."

"Do I have to make a decision now? I'd like to think about it."

"Of course." He pressed a piece of paper into her hand, lingering longer than necessary. "Follow these instructions after your first rehearsal if you wish to take lessons."

"How do you know-" She heard the door click shut. He was gone.

Carefully, Christine opened the door to make sure no one saw her. She felt terrible for sneaking around, but she could only imagine the rumors. Despite what the mysterious man had said, any scandal would knock her out of the Met forever. After seeing the coast was clear, Christine walked very quickly once more to the lobby.

Only when Christine was sitting comfortably-as she could anyway- in the back of a cab did she look at the note. It was written in red ink and the chicken-scratch words were barely legible. Eventually she was able to make out the words:

_Go to the room we met in today after your first rehearsal_

_I hope you make the right choice, Christine._

_Sincerely, E_

She wondered what the E stood for, but didn't dwell on it. She would be home soon and she had a lot to tell her Mama Valerius.

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><p>"Oh, didn't I tell you Christine?" Mama was ecstatic. "Didn't I tell you you're angel would come for you?"<p>

Christine was surprised at the elderly woman's response. Usually when one was taken into a darkened room by a stranger, it was cause for alarm.

"Yes, I suppose. But this isn't a story, Mama V, this is the real world."

"Angels exist, dear." Mama stood and paused before walking to the kitchen. "And yours has finally arrived."

Christine wondered what would come of this. She wasn't sure if angels really existed, but she knew that man was not an angel. Although that voice could have fooled her into thinking he was a divine being. The secretive voice still sang in her ears; his promises still caressed her. She didn't care for fame or stardom, but she wanted to reach new heights. She had a feeling he would help her fill the emptiness of her voice.

_What if he's a devil? _Christine thought suddenly, her eyes not quite watching the evening news.

It fit: the naïve, young girl making deals with the devil. Like the strangers with false promises, those stories never turned out well either.

Christine leaned back on the sofa, trying to push unpleasant thoughts from her head. Her pajama bottoms were feeling very comfortable right now. She heard her caretaker come in and turn off the television. It was time for bed and Christine was more than willing to comply. She gave Mama V a kiss on the cheek and went off to her bed to dream of strange men and even stranger music.

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><p><strong>I took down the single chapter of my other story. I hit a huge block and couldn't finish it. Plus, I didn't like the way it was going. Instead, I have ideas for this story and another I'm considering writing. So, drop one story, get two. That's not bad, right? <strong>

**I promise to keep updating this one, I've already started on the second chapter. Check my profile page for updates. **

**One last thing, for curiosity's sake, are there any other guys lurking here? Surely, I'm not the only one.**

**Thanks for reading! I'll try to get the next chapter up sometime in the next couple weeks.**


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